Elcimans, gather round !

The Elcimaï Environnement teams gather for their biennial meeting

Every two years, Elcimaï’s Environment teams gather for a day-long seminar, followed by a day of outdoor activities.

Agility in all its forms

This is a time to step back, strengthen or forge new bonds between teams, and nurture a shared vision firmly focused on the ecological transition.

While the last edition highlighted teamwork, the central theme of this edition was agility, opening up a new field for reflection and action in a context where adapting to change is more than necessary.

Both in form and substance, we explored the individual and collective resources that already exist or that we can develop within the company to exercise our capacity for adaptation and resilience in the face of change.

What makes elcimaï environnement an “AGILE” company ?

Various mechanisms foster our teams’ agility by facilitating the flow of information and fostering innovation, enabling us to anticipate market, managerial, or societal changes.

Several examples illustrate this internal dynamic :

Our training policy and skills development, which are central to the challenges of our consulting and engineering firm.
Business working groups, which bring employees together around strategic activities : sorting and recycling, anaerobic digestion, collection optimization, energy…
An AI (artificial intelligence) observatory that explores the possibilities for integrating AI into our business lines and professional practices.
Our commitment as a mission-driven company, enshrined in our articles of incorporation and serving as a catalyst for individual and collective action around the ecological transition, both internally and with our clients, suppliers, partners, and civil society.
Legal expertise, or how agility also involves adapting contracts to new organizational structures, new sectors, and new needs, particularly in the context of procurement and the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes.
Regulatory and environmental work, which acts as a mediator between an industrial project, its local community, and the government, ensuring the project’s compliance with environmental regulations—and even taking the initiative to go beyond them and innovate to further reduce impacts on the environment, biodiversity, and the climate.

Emotional intelligence, a LEVER for resilience

In addition to internal initiatives, the event on October 4 featured two external speakers : Cédric Hénon and Bernard Anselem, who led a discussion on emotional intelligence as a key driver of resilience.

By emphasizing active listening—listening to understand, not to convince—this form of intelligence allows us to better recognize emotions (rather than ignore them), to better understand and adapt to situations.
This concept was put into practice through co-development workshops, which provided an opportunity to practice active listening and the collective search for solutions.
This practice fosters a mindset inspired by Carol Dweck’s “growth mindset,” through which uncertainty is transformed into progress.
In the face of change, emotional intelligence strengthens perseverance while limiting the impact of cognitive biases that lead to rigidity and resistance to change. Change and criticism are seen as opportunities for growth, rather than threats.
By fostering openness to different perspectives and working collectively toward positive solutions, it enables teams to move beyond negative interpretations and adapt constructively, thereby contributing to shared resilience.

The event in numbers

120 participants
70 employees involved in facilitating an activity
1 roundtable discussion on intergenerational connections within the company, featuring 10 employees of all genders, ages, agencies, and roles !
6 booths on internal projects and themes
2 external guests, who came to present the foundations of emotional intelligence :
- Bernard Anselem, Medical researcher and lecturer in neuroscience
  Cédric Hénon, Founder of Imp’Act
14 co-development groups addressing issues related to our professions
10 new talents in improvisational theater working on a job-related scenario
20 meters of “homemade” installations created by all participants to set off a giant chain reaction !
14 cyclists who made the trip via bike-train (and the rest via shuttle trains or carpooling !)
4 km of forest trails, with four-legged companions or a sketchbook and pencil, organized by the company’s Works Council
1 100 % vegetarian dinner to demonstrate that fine dining doesn’t have to include meat

More than just statistics, the event brings us together in a moment of sharing, camaraderie, laughter, connections, mutual support, and listening, and generates a motivating energy within the teams.

Elcimans, gather round !